We
celebrated Thanksgiving early this year. It’s usually not possible to celebrate it
on the same Thursday as in the USA, since Norway does not celebrate the holiday.
Even if I wanted to celebrate it on the same day, I’d have to take that
Thursday off from work, as would any of the guests who might want to join us
for the festivities. So for the past twenty-three years I’ve usually celebrated
on the weekend following Thanksgiving in the States. But since we already have
plans for the next two weekends, today (Sunday) was our celebration. Just my husband and
me this year; all our usual guests had other plans. I asked my husband how he
would feel if I stopped celebrating the holiday, and he said he would miss it.
It’s true; he would miss it, because it’s become a part of our annual holiday
repertoire. He’s appreciative of the gestures I make to share my culture, as I
am grateful for the gestures he makes to share his. Since I moved here, I’ve
made it a point to keep on celebrating the holidays I celebrated when I lived in the USA---Halloween,
Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s, Valentine’s Day and Easter. Norwegians
celebrate Christmas, New Year’s and Easter, so there’s pretty good overlap in
terms of food and drink; in recent years Halloween and Valentine’s Day have
become a part of their society, albeit on a much smaller commercial scale than in the
USA. The Norwegian postal service offers some really nice Valentine’s Day stamps; I’ll
have to scan in some of the first day covers for Valentine’s Day that I own and present them in a future post.
It’s nice
to have the holidays to look forward to and to prepare for each year. I might
even say it’s become necessary for me to celebrate them. Doing so breaks up the
long darkness that is winter here. I am grateful for the opportunity to be able
to celebrate them. The winters are not much worse weather-wise than they were
in New York; it’s the short days and the black darkness that get to you after a
while. So the holidays are a way to get me through each dark month of winter.
By the time Valentine’s Day is over, the darkness has lifted, and the promise
of spring, summer and long sunlit days is in the air. In that sense, I am
grateful for all the holidays each year; each holiday has its special charm.
Thanksgiving especially is a holiday for reflection on all those things that we
have to be grateful for. It is not about shopping or bargains or football, even
though it may seem that way sometimes. It is about family and the ties that
bind, about being thankful for them and for good friends. I remember when we
were in our teens, our friends lived right around the corner, and after dinner,
we hung out at each other’s houses or went for walks around the town. We always
stopped in to say hello to our friends’ parents at some point. Those friends are
still my friends today, my oldest and dearest friends, and I am grateful for
their friendship. I couldn’t imagine my life without them. Thanksgiving is also
about being thankful for the bounties that America enjoys. In that sense,
Norway has much to be grateful for as well; its oil wealth is certainly a
bounty. We don’t always realize that we are blessed; often we are too busy kvetching
or constantly on the lookout for the next new thing that will better our lives.
We actually have all that we need; we just need to appreciate our lives more,
and appreciate the life around us.
